We interviewed Hotel Elephant studio member Candy Ward about her ceramics. She creates functional work centred around celebrating women’s soft bodies. Candy began working with ceramics during her BA in Ceramic Design at Central Saint Martins, since then she has developed her own unique style. Based on her own personal experience, she explores themes of body dysmorphia and eating disorders through clay. She hopes people can gain confidence and love for their own bodies through seeing normal bodies represented in her work, challenging mainstream representation of the female form.

Can you give us a quick introduction to you and your work?

Hi! My name is Candy and I’m a ceramic artist from London. I like to describe my work as functional sculptures and the focus is around celebrating soft bodies.

Who or what are the biggest influences on your work?

My work is motivated by my own issues with negative body image. I want to create work that makes people feel good about themselves - particularly people that live in bodies that aren’t traditionally celebrated or appreciated.

What is one of your biggest struggles when it comes to your work? And how do you overcome it?

I think starting a new sculpture or project is always the hardest! With ceramics, there are so many risks and so many points where it can go wrong so I find that I talk myself out of starting something new or procrastinating. I also find with sculpting the body it often looks really really bad right until the very end. I have to remind myself to trust the process and take any setbacks as a learning opportunity.

Why did you choose to start making ceramics?

I started working with ceramics about 10 years ago in my Art Foundation year. I’d never used it before and it just happened to be one of the materials we experimented with.

One of the first major projects I chose to do was based on casting my own body and turning the casts into ceramic bowls. Back then, I was really struggling with an eating disorder and this project helped me come to terms with that.

Ever since then, I’ve felt a huge connection to the material and felt I had to continue working with it. I went on to study for a BA in Ceramic Design.

What do you love about working with clay?

There is something so bodily about clay. The way it can be squished and manipulated. It just feels like the perfect material to use within the theme of the body. I also love how versatile it is. Being 3D, you’re not limited to the confines of a page or screen so you can build up and out. I also love the playfulness of the material - getting messy is something we rarely do as adults and clay forces you to get messy and play as we did as children.

Do you have anything you’d like to plug to our readers?

My website and Instagram! And a market I’m taking part in on the 3rd and 4th July if you want to come and see the pieces IRL.

Finally, what do you love about your studio?

I love the quirkiness of my studio! It’s part of the building which used to be a GP surgery and I just love that! My room used to be for the “practice nurse” and I often find myself wondering what went on in there! I also love being part of an artists community. I’ve had my studio neighbours help me out and vice versa. It feels like a really supportive space.